Silver Lining

Each day, my kiddos and I say a little prayer in the car on our way to school. We alternate who prays every day. I do this for two reasons. First one, so they can become prayer warriors and get in the habit of praying as often as possible. Second, I want them to identify what they are thankful for each morning and to ask for God’s protection over them throughout the day. Now most of you know that I am a woman of faith and I can’t approach Thanksgiving without drawing on my faith.

As we pray, if we’re having a bad morning, running late, or it’s extremely cold and snowing, we still try and find the positives in those situations. I want them to be able to identify the silver lining and be grateful for it. If it’s cold and snowing, then we need to be grateful for the moisture and the natural beauty that comes with it. If we’re running late, then we need to be grateful we’re missing the school traffic. Whatever cloud of gloom is hanging over us, we need to be able to find its beauty. Some days this is more challenging than others especially when one or two of us wake up in a bad mood. Those mornings require more effort and more patience but it’s amazing how the attitude shifts when we start looking at what we’re thankful for instead of what’s going wrong.

We need to be intentional with our thanks giving every day, not just the 30 days of November. This seems to be more challenging as we get older and life’s storms overtake us. Some days it is so much easier to wallow in our pain than to be cheerful and that’s okay as long as we recognize we’re doing it and we snap ourselves out of it quickly. We can’t prevent life from happening and taking its toll on us, but we can control our attitude by always looking for the silver lining. If it’s hard to find, keep searching, it might not be immediately obvious but with time you will notice it.

I encourage you to find the silver lining in every situation, even the good ones. Create a positive habit and be thankful often.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!